The Belmont Stakes

Description

The Belmont Stakes in an American grade 1 thoroughbred horse race,held every year in New York.The first time I visited a racetrack, I quickly realized that just about every bettor has a “system” — that is, a methodology to guarantee a winning day.

And on that first visit, I learned my father’s system — a simple strategy that called for placing a show wager on the favorite, meaning if our pick came in first, second or third, we were in line for a payout. It seemed a surefire plan: How could the top horse fail to eke out at least a third-place finish?

Naturally, we lost our shirts.

In the three decades since that visit, I’ve employed many other systems when I’ve bet on horses (and I typically make it to the track at least a couple of times a year, plus I sometimes bet online). And yet, I can count on one hand — actually, on two fingers — the number of times I’ve made money over the course of a day. Clearly, this handicapping business isn’t for amateurs.Top handicappers may not reveal all the tricks of the trade, but they will certainly share some basic tips. I took what I gleaned from my conversations with them and boiled it down to these eight ways to increase your odds at the track.

closers,” a speed horse may be the best bet. (The theory is that while the closers are waiting to make their move, the speed horse will have already opened up an unbeatable gap.)